Guide and supporting elements for indirect water heaters



Feb. 18, 1969 H. VIESSMANN 3,428,031

GUIDE AND SUPPORTING ELEMENTS FOR INDIRECT WATER HEATERS Filed Feb. 3, 1967 Sheet of 2 In ven f or:

HANS VIESSNQNN 6 f (Maw (AG GMT Feb. 18, 1969 H. VIESSMANN 2 GUIDE AND SUPPORTING ELEMENTS FOR INDIRECT WATER HEATERS Filed Feb. 3, 1967 Sheet 3 of 2 O ZZZ INVENTOR.

HANS VIESS N am M United States Patent 3,428,031 GUIDE AND SUPPORTING ELEMENTS FOR INDIRECT WATER HEATERS Hans Viessmann, Battenberg (Eder), Germany Filed Feb. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 613,825 Claims priority, application Germany, Feb. 10, 1966,

v 30,35 U.S. Cl. 122-33 3 Claims Int. Cl. F22b 1/02; F28f 7/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to guide and supporting elements for a heating element inserted into boilers or water-storing enclosures of indirect water heaters and which is supported at one of its ends by a mounting flange.

Indirect water heaters of the type described above are employed for the production of warm or hot water for domestic or industrial use and, normally, are the heating element is fitted into the water holding enclosure from the front of the boiler above the combustion chamber, the heating element being secured to and supported from the boiler only at the front wall of the boiler by means of a mounting flange. In boiler making, this manner of mounting involves no difiiculties in the new assembly of a boiler, since the heating element, which frequently is as long as three feet and more, may be inserted into the boiler from the top with the boiler placed on its back, after which it is flange-connected to the boiler as by bolting. On the other hand, considerable difiiculties will be encountered in the removal and reinsertion of such heating elements, if the boiler is permanently installed at the place of operation.

Accordingly, this invention has as its main object to provide an arrangement which considerably facilitates the installation of heating elements in, and their removal from boilers or water-storing enclosures, while at the same time providing some support for the end of such heating elements remote from the mounting flange, whereby the tubes of the heating element are relieved from bending stresses at the mounting end of the heating element.

According to the invention, guide and supporting bar members are rigidly secuered to the two end walls of a water holding enclosure of an indirect water heater. A heating element having two ends is arranged in the enclosure, and the bars extend in the direction of the heating element at least beneath the heating element to support the other end thereof in the enclosure, the one end of the heating element being supported by a mounting flange.

The bar members provide guide-ways inside the boiler on which the heating element can be placed with its other end to be guided into the boiler with that end in its mounted position.

Advantageously, the supporting bars are so disposed that the remote end of the heating element will be supported at least at its lower side, when it has reached its final position. Unlike prior-art arrangements, the present invention thus relieves the flanged end of the heater unit from bending stresses similar to those to which cantilever beams are exposed. A further advantage is attained if the supporting bars of the invention are provided both at the lower and upper sides of the heating element, since in such a case its remote end will be clamped between the lower and upper bars and securely held in place during transportation. In addition, such an arrangement has the advantage that it adds to the mechanical resistance of the opposite boiler walls against internal pressure.

Further details and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the appended drawing illustrating two embodiments of the invention by way of example only. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross section showing the heating element supporting according to the invention in a water holding enclosure of an indirect water heater; and

FIG. 2 is a similar view showing the enclosure of FIG. I mounted as the upper part of a water boiler.

Referring first to FIG.1, there is shown a heating element 1, having a mounting flange 2. The front and rear walls of the boiler are respectively denoted by the reference numerals 3 and 4. The lateral boiler walls bear the reference numeral 5. The front and rear walls as well as the lateral walls of the boiler are covered with a conventional insulation 6 and a suitable cover material 7. According to the invention, the front and rear walls of the boiler are interconnected by bar or strap members 8, 8', which in the embodiment shown are respectively disposed beneath and above water heater unit 1.

The boiler-water inlet and outlet are shown at 9 and 10, respectively.

FIG. 2 shows the indirect water heating arrangement of FIG. 1 forming the upper water holding portion 13 of a conventional boiler 12. The lower portion of the boiler includes the combustion chamber 15 receiving fuel from burner 14 and being exhausted through flue 16. The water holding upper portion 13 is in communication with the water holding lower portion 17 of the boiler, which surrounds the combustion chamber and the flue, all of this arrangement being conventional.

Advantageously, the bar members are slightly inclined so that the remote end 11 of the water heater unit first rests upon the bar or bars 8, as the heater is fitted into the boiler, whereupon it can be shifted along the bar or bars into its end position. As depicted in the drawing, the upper and lower bar members are arranged to form a substantially funnel-shaped guide channel through which the heater can be easily inserted, with its remote end 11 clamped between the upper and lower bars after it has reached its final position. In this manner the tubes of the water heater are relieved from bending stresses at the flanged end, which otherwise would occur if the tubes were supported at flange 2 only.

In addition to the reinforcement of the front and rear walls, which incidentally results from the arrangement described above, the invention thus facilitates the mounting of the heating element in permanently installed boilers, while at the same time relieving the tube material or the welded joints from bending stresses at the flanged end thereof.

What is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is: 1

1. In an indirect water heater comprising an enclosure for holding water, the enclosure having two vertical end walls, a horizontally extending heating element in said enclosure, the heating element having two ends, and a mounting flange supporting one of the ends of the heating element on one of the end walls, the improvement of a guide and supporting means for the heating element, said means including rigid bar members only secured to, and thus bracing, the enclosure end walls and extending in the direction of the heating element at least beneath the heating element to support the other end of the heating element in the enclosure.

2. In the improvement of claim 1, the bar member beneath the heating element extending in an upwardly 3 4 inclined plane from the one end of the heating element 2,122,256 6/1938 Leach 165-74 XR to its other end. 1,945,349 1/ 1934 Ford.

3. In the improvement of claim 1, the bar members 2,354,932 8/1944 Walker et a1. 12233 XR including two bar members arranged in planes convergent 2,457,009 12/ 1948 Tanner 165-78 XR from the one enclosure end wall towards the other en- 5 2, 22 354 12 1952 Bendf lt 1 5 7 closure end wall.

KENNETH W. SPRAGUE, Primary Examiner. References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS U.S.C1.X.R. 1,478,855 12/1923 Hildebrand 165-48 10 165-78 

